Fair taxation is necessary to our nation's growth

Politicians promise tax cuts and voters flock to them like little kids chasing the ice cream truck in the summer.

Many people complain about paying taxes. But there was a time not long ago when patriotic Americans were proud to pay their fair share of the cost of the things we collectively want - things like good schools, roads and bridges, police and fire departments, clean air and clean water.

When Dwight Eisenhower was president, the wealthiest Americans paid income taxes at a rate of 90 percent.Hearing that tax rate, most of us react by thinking of our own circumstances and how hard it would be to live on 10 percent of what we earn. For many of us it is hard to fathom.

Some wealthy people would argue that they earn their wealth on their own. But we all know that if we sent each of them to a deserted island they wouldn't acquire wealth the way they do as part of the society they live in with the rest of us.

It's true that most of us cannot afford to pay more taxes than we do now. But those who have been taking the lion's share of the wealth that this country generates should also be required to pay the lion's share of what this country's citizens need from the government to enable them to produce that wealth.

When the politicians come knocking at your door this year, I urge you to tell them you are proud to pay your fair share of taxes and you hope they will make sure that others pay their fair share, too.

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